1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of firearm supports, and more specifically, to a combination walking stick and firearm support.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are a number of portable shooting supports and combination shooting support/walking sticks that are the subject of issued patents or pending patent applications, but none of these inventions includes the novel features of the present invention, most notably: (1) the ability to fully support a firearm with no human contact required, in either a barrel-up or barrel-down position; (2) the ability to incorporate the functionality of a shooting bipod without requiring the bipod to be attached directly to the firearm, thereby reducing the discomfort normally associated with having a bipod directly attached to a rifle, when the rifle is carried over the shoulder with a sling; (3) the ability to fully support a camera, spotting scope or binoculars on a widely spaced tripod support base; (4) the ability to be utilized as a three-leg shooting support, or optionally, to be used as a lightweight walking stick/shooting support with single-leg shooting support, with the bipod removed; (5) the flexibility of being employable as a single-leg shooting support when shots must to be taken quickly, or alternately, of being employable as a wide-based, three-leg shooting support when high accuracy is more important than speed; (7) the ability to fully support a fishing rod with no human contact; and (8) the ability to spread the wires of a fence in order to facilitate a person's passage through the fence.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,584,821 (Glebe, 1971) discloses a firearm shooting support that comprises a vertical shaft with a single ground-contact point and a vertically adjustable firearm shooting support surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,481,964 and No. D276,668 (Minneman, 1982 and 1984) disclose a combination walking stick and shooting support having a single ground-contact point and a vertically adjustable firearm shooting support.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,882,869 (Webster, 1989) discloses a combination rifle rest and animal choke stick having a single ground-contact support and comprising a spring-locking firearm rest and a camera rest.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,835 (Vetter, 1995) discloses a two-legged (bipod) firearm shooting support that may be folded for compact storage.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,786 (Hilderbrand, 1995) discloses a pistol shooting support that may double as a walking staff, and having a relatively narrow-base folding tripod ground support.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,808,227 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,463 (Amos, 1998) disclose a firearm rest with an elongate shaft and a Y-shaped firearm cradle, in combination with a camouflage screen that is attached to the firearm rest.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,493,719 B2 (Lackey, 2009), U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. US20050188595 (Lackey, 2005), and U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. US20080172919 (Lackey, 2008) all disclose a firearm supporting apparatus that clamps to vertical shafts of varying diameters and lengths.
U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. US20020178637 discloses a pocket gun rest that may be attached to a variety of shafts and is adjustable for height.
U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. US20070266609 (Wuertz, 2007) discloses an extendable and lockable gun rest having a single ground-contact support and slidable support members.